Concept Unit

Lesson Plan Template

Unit Working Title: How I Can Use Literature to Approach Problems in My Life

Unit Big Idea (Concept/Theme): Approaching Adversity

Unit Primary Skill focus: Making an Argument

Week _2__ of 3; Plan #___5__ of 9; [90 mins.]

Plan type: _X_Full-Detail ____Summary

Content Requirement Satisfied:

(Note: Refer to the list in the document called Concept Unit Lesson Plans)

Unit Learning Objectives (numbered) [from my Backwards Design Unit Document],

followed by Specific lesson objectives (lettered) being taught in this lesson:

SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
N/A

Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:

6. Students will be able to explain and value what is required by real people and characters in
facing their hardships.

Performance (do):
7. Students will be able to critically examine how characters approach different problems.
a. students will be able to back up their analysis of characters decisions with textual
evidence

8. Students will be able to make written and oral arguments about whether characters choices
when faced with adversity were effective choices to make at the time
b. students will be able to compose argumentative statements based off close-readings

SOLs: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document]

7.7 The student will write in a variety of forms with an emphasis on exposition, narration, and
persuasion.
e. compose a topic sentence or thesis statement
f. write multi-paragraph compositions with unity elaborating the central idea

CCSs: [List with numbers portrayed in the CCS document]

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1.B
Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources
and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and
information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content

Methods of Assessment:
[How will you know if the intended learning occurred?] List all methods of assessment used in
this lesson or which are related to this lesson and come in a future lesson. After each assessment,
indicate in brackets the number(s) and letter(s) of the unit objective and the related lesson
objectives that the assessment is evaluating.

Diagnostic Formative Summative

Before starting this lesson, I
will ask students to review
what we did from the last
lesson: Who can tell me
what a thesis is? Okay,
great, what are some
components of a thesis that
we discussed?
I will make sure students are
on the same page about this
before we move into
introducing new texts and the
modeling.
CCSS.ELA-
LITERACY.W.7.1
SOL 7.7 e
During this lesson, I will
model how to start writing for
a Character Talk then students
will start working on their
own. After the modeling, I
will ask if any students have
questions and will also be
available during the student
work time to answer questions
and trouble shoot.
CCSS.ELA-
LITERACY.W.7.2
SOL 7.7 e, f
(7a, 8a)
Before students start the
writing process, they will get
together with a peer and
articulate their argument to
them, showing them their
drafted outline and thesis
statement. This person should
be someone who is at the
same point in the working
process as they are so they
wont have to disturb peers
who are working. This step is
to make sure that they can
verbally explain their project
to someone else before
starting to write it. If students
dont get to this during this
lesson, it will carry over to the
next!
(6)
Students will complete a
character talk (based off
Steinekes concept of a Book
Talk with a different name so
they dont think its a book
report) where they will have to
follow the following structure:
1. Present the characters
adversity, explaining
the context and relevant
details
2. Describe how the
character approaches
this adversity within the
context of the story
3. Form an argument
about the effectiveness
of the characters
decision at the time.
What do you think
he/she couldve done
differently, if anything?
Why?
(8a, 8b, 8c, 7a, 6)

Procedures/Instructional Strategies
[Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.]

Beginning Room Arrangement: usual set up (kids in scattered clusters throughout the room)
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted in the plan]
 1. [5 mins.] Bridge/Hook/Opening to lesson:
Hey guys! I think the last lesson we did on thesis writing went really well, and Im excited to
work with yall today because you are going to get time to start the writing process for your
Character Talk! So I realize that as of right now, yall might have a lot of questions about this
project because we havent looked at all the texts that you could use for it. Dont worry, we are
getting to that today!

2. [30 mins.] Introduce Other Possible Texts for Character Talk Project
Okay guys, so today is going to be the first day we really sit down and crank out stuff for the
Character Talk assignment. Weve been building up to this with our other lessons and skills in
those, but today will give you the opportunity to pull them all together. To do this, though, you
guys need exposure to more texts! Remember how we practiced annotating with Gary Sotos
short story Mother and Daughter? I think that went really well, but we need to look at other texts
that show examples of adversity and hardship too because youre not allowed to use one for the
final project that weve looked at already.

The options that I have for yall are all short stories! I made a presentation that has information
about each story (pull up Appendix C, Google Presentation) so you can get a general idea about
the content of each. (Read the excerpt on each of the slides for each story) So as yall can see,
you have a lot of really good options in terms of texts for your Character Talk. Id love it if
everyone was about evenly dispersed between the groups, but I also want everyone to be happy
with their text. Take 5 minutes to browse the short stories and come look at American Born
Chinese if you want (have a copy at the front of the classroom). If you choose to do this option,
youll need to get a copy from the library. There are enough in stock that this shouldnt be a
problem.

Does anyone have any questions? (Pause) Okay, your five minutes starts now! (Set timer, make
sure students can all access the presentation on school laptops and trouble shoot for problems. As
they are browsing, be available for questions.) Awesome, your five minutes is up. Do people feel
like they have a good idea of which texts they want to do the most? Please do a thumbs up,
thumbs in the middle, or thumbs down based off how you are feelingdo you have your top
choices ready? (Pause, if a lot of students are struggling could give more time). Awesome, now
how many people are thinking they want to do American Born Chinese? (Tally this number on
the board after students raise hands, repeat this process for each story and readjust groups if there
are too many students interested in certain texts).

Awesome, so everyone should have a text now. Next up, I am going to model for you how to get
started on your Character Talk. But, weve been working for awhile and I want to give yall a
breakso stretch your legs, get some water, go to the bathroom... please be back in your seats
after the five minutes is up though.

**5 MIN BREAK**

3. [15 mins.] Teacher Modeling How to Start the Writing Process for this Project
So guys, I assume all of you remember the book we read called The Giver during our last unit.
Since all of us have read this before and it has many examples of someone dealing with hardship
and adversity, Im going to use this as the modeling text for showing you how to write a
character talk. First, were going to watch a clip from the movie that shows the hardship Im
going to use for my Character Talk (Play YouTube clip Appendix A ~2 min)
Can anyone tell me the main hardship that they saw Jonah approaching in that clip? (Wait for
volunteers, hope that they say the ethical dilemma about finding out his dad kills babies but not
knowing what to do about it, if they dont say this, scaffold to this answer by giving hints about
which parts of the clip to focus on) Great, so we can see that his obstacle has to do with his
family, but has many different parts. Even though Jonah loves his dad, he cant believe that he
would participate in something like this for a living. Now keep in mind that this isnt the only
adversity in the Giver, but its the one Im going to choose for my Character Talk.

So, Im going to fill out the same worksheet that I passed out to all of you on the projector. (Write
the Giver in text slot, write Jonahs ethical dilemma about his dad killing babies under the
adversity part) Now, the tricky part here is figuring out what I want to argue in my project. To
start this, Im going to make a list of potential different things I could argue. Before I do this
though lets recap what happens in this story. Can anyone tell me how Jonah eventually deals
with this specific hardship about his dad? (Call on volunteers, answer is something along the
lines of he eventually runs away from the community because of his findings). So one thing that
his actions makes me think of is that he is literally running away with his problems. Maybe this
is not the plan of action. So Im going to write Jonahs decision when faced with the adversity
of his findings about his dad was not the right one to make at the time. Instead, he shouldve
stayed around and tried to talk things through with members of his community.

Great, so another thing that I could argue is that he was in the right. Maybe, Jonah did exactly
what any of us would do in the situation. He knew that talking through things with his family and
dad probably wouldnt get him very far because all of them very much bought into the logic of
their perfect society. So, now Im going to write below this, Jonah made the right decision
when he was faced with knowing about his fathers occupation because having a conversation
with him would not have been beneficial. In the end, his father would still be stubborn and not
understand.

Im going to pause here for a second. Does anyone have any questions about how I did that?
Moving on, does anyone have more ideas for things that you could argue in response to this
specific adversity in the Giver? (See if there are volunteers, if not move on).

Which thesis do you think we should use? Raise your hand if you think Jonah was in the wrong.
Okay, now what about people who think he was in the right? Awesome, lets do the one that the
majority of yall agreed with. Now, Im going to pull out the rubric for this assignment to make
sure that my thesis meets the requirements that we learned about. (Pull out rubric) So the length
requirement for this is 2-3 pages double-spaced and I feel like I can analyze this sufficiently in
that page count. Lets open the floor to discussionwhat do you guys think about my thesis?
Does it meet all of the components? (Call on volunteers, make them explain their answers so if
they say its specific or all the words are clear, then make them talk through this answer).

Awesome, so the next step would be for me to fill out an outline. I feel confident with yalls
outlining skills, so Im not going to go in detail about this process. But, when you are all doing
this outlining process, please feel free to stop me if you have questions or need any help at all.
Now, I want to show yall the beginning of my final product for this Character Talk project.
Please keep in mind that this is the final product so I didnt just write this in one go. This
document is also posted on our class website so you can look at the example in more detail on
your own time.

4. [30 mins- remaining time] Student Work Time

Thanks for your attention today, everyone. Now that we got to see me writing a Character Talk,
its your turn! The next half of the class is just independent work time. This means that I am
trusting yall to really get started on this project because it is not something you can put off until
the last minute! By the end of this work period, it would be great if everyone had a clear idea of
the text theyre using and the argument they want to make about the adversity. If you have
questions or just want to have a second set of eyes on something, please raise your hand and I
will come help you!

Once you have an idea for a text and what you want to argue, you should start an outline. This
will not only help you focus your thoughts, but will be a place you can get everything down so
you make sure you arent leaving anything out in the final product. Im going to put a list of these
steps up on the board for reference:

(Write on the board Steps for Character Talk: 1. Pick a text (make sure to look back on the
syllabus to see which ones you can choose, remember that you cant do Gary Soto because that
was the one I did for the annotating or The Giver because that was the one I used for the
example) 2. Come up with a thesis/argument about the characters adversity in that text (look
back to your notes on this and follow the steps for thesis writing) 3. Test your thesis according to
the criteria we studied to make sure it is strong 4. Outline for your Character Talk: use the rubric
to help you with this to make sure you have all components 5. Start writing!

Does anyone have any questions about what youre supposed to be doing now? Please take
advantage of this class time that Im giving you to work on this!

(a few minutes before the period is over)

Walk to the front of the room and raise hand, wait for all students to notice and raise their hand
as well before saying: Great work today, yall. Unfortunately, we are running out of time, but I
can see that all of you have made some progress on this project so you should be proud of
yourselves! Please pack up your belongings and get ready to go because the bell is about to ring.
We will have more class time to work on the Character Talk later so do not stress!

Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my profiled students:

(This is where you identify specific aspects of this lesson which have been differentiated in order
to address the needs of one or more of your profiled studentsidentify them by name)

For Stan, the ELL Spanish learner, I will provide a copy of my example for the Character Talk
translated into Spanish. I will also provide him more scaffolding during the independent work
time and try to talk to him first to check in. I could also recommend that he read the graphic
novel because having pictures could help him grasp the concepts a lot easier since he is at a
lower reading level than the other students.

Materials Needed (list):

Youtube Clip from the Giver
Steps for Character Talk Handout
Copy of American Born Chinese
Projector
PPT with Texts for Character Talk
Character Talk Example in Spanish for Stan

Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,

handouts, etc.)
Appendix A: Youtube Clip from The Giver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0pjeNigj1E
Appendix B: Steps for Character Talk Handout
Appendix C: Presentation with Details about texts for Character Talk (to be shared with students
so they can access it from their computers) https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jT1alrVJa3b-
8nVgve-kLBKpnoiqrT0DoNmr2zAiEsA/edit#slide=id.g1f47d33901_0_62
Appendix D: Character Talk Rubric
Appendix E: Ms. Horsleys Character Talk Example

Steps for Character Talk

1. Pick a text from these four choices:

The Princess and the Puma by OHenry American Born Chinese by Geun Luang

A Mystery of Heroism by Stephen Crane War by Luigi Pirandello

2. Detail the characters hardship that you are focusing on below

3. Come up with a thesis/argument about a characters hardship in the text. Brainstorm

below:

4. Test your thesis according to the criteria we talked about to make sure it is strong (look

back to your notes for the specific criteria)

5. Outline for your Character Talk: use the rubric to help you with this and make sure you

have all components

6. Start writing!

Character Talk Rubric

 1. Did students follow the steps for describing the adversity (pick and describe a characters
adversity from one of the texts weve read together in this unit, describe the context,
make an argument about whether it was the right choice to make at the time)
2. Did students follow the length guidelines for the written part and the spoken part?
3. Did students create the final product as a podcast?
4. Does the students thesis meet the criteria for a strong thesis statement? (to be specified
on the rubric)

Excellent: 5 points Average: 3 points Rethinking

Required: 1 point
Main Characters Main characters from Most main characters Many main
the story have been from the story have characters from the
correctly identified. been correctly story have not been
identified. correctly identified.
Setting Setting has been fully Most of the setting Several pieces of the
identified, including has been fully setting have not been
time and place. identified, may have correctly identified.
forgotten to include The time and place
time or place. have been left out.
Problem/Adversity The main problem Most of the problem Several important
that the character the character faces in details regarding the
faces in the story has the story has been problem have been
been clearly identified but may be left out. The student
identified and labeled missing one does not label the
as an internal or important detail. The conflict as internal or
external conflict type of conflict may external.
be labeled
incorrectly, but there
was an attempt.
Solution The solution to the Most of the solution Several important
characters main to the characters details regarding the
problem has been main problem has solution have not
clearly identified been clearly been identified.
identified.
Do you agree? The Character Talk The thesis is missing The thesis statement
Why/why not? has a clear/strong 1 or 2 of the does not meet several
thesis (based on the components of a of the requirements
criteria we learned in clear/strong thesis, for a strong/clear
class) with but the reader still thesis statement or
supporting reasons has a good the reader is unsure
for the opinion given understanding of of what the author is
Criteria for a strong what the person is trying to argue.
thesis: 1. Takes a arguing.
stance on an issue (is
argumentative) 2. As
specific as possible
(is every words
meaning clear?) 3. Is
it a complete
sentence? 4. Does it
have an opposing
 argument

Ms. Horsleys Character Talk

Jonah: In the Wrong with His Dad

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a dystopian novel with a teenage boy named Jonah as the

protagonist. Jonah faces many obstacles in the novel such as navigating his first romance with a

girl, feeling overwhelmed by his new role as the Receiver of Memory, and trying to process the

memories he receives from the Giver in their learning sessions. Jonah also encounters adversity

with his family, though. We learn that love the way we think of it in modern day is not allowed in

their society, even between family members. In fact, the word was banned long ago. Jonah

struggles to balance learning about the history of their society through the Giver with his daily

life and interactions with community members. One of these memories is of Jonahs father

injecting a serum into a baby that is ultimately fatal. Jonah learns that this baby did not meet

certain standards and therefore, was subject to termination. This adversity is the one that I will

focus on in this paper. Jonahs decision when faced with the adversity of his findings about his

dad was not the right one to make at the time. Instead, he shouldve stayed around and tried to

talk things through with members of his community